The water purification functions of forests represent one of the most frequently invoked examples of nonmarket ecosystem services that are economically valuable. This study quantifies the monetary value of forests' water purification services in the form of the ensuing cost savings of municipal drinking water treatment, using a rich panel dataset from China's Sichuan province. Moreover, this study has undertaken a novel spatial piecewise approach to investigate the spatial patterns of such cost savings delivered by forests at different distances from the water intake point. The estimation results find that forests within a 2 km radius upstream from the water intake point have the most sizeable and statistically significant cost saving effect. For forests within a 3 km radius, this effect becomes somewhat smaller but remains statistically significant. Beyond a 4 km radius, this effect becomes notably smaller and statistically equal to zero. Our analysis facilitates the optimal spatial targeting of forest conservation.

In this study we investigate the effectiveness of environmental regulation in a large developing country. We construct a panel of 3,436 major toxics polluters from 2004 to 2015 using detailed plant-specific data on toxics releases, inspections, and fines, across Mexico. Our results show that regulators target polluters who are significantly non-compliant and impose higher fines on them. This has implications for the cost efficiency of monitoring and regulatory enforcement. An additional priority violation increases current toxics inspections, fines, and amount of fines by 7, 5 and 18 per cent, respectively. An additional priority violation followed by fines imposed on the plant results in a reduction in annual toxics releases by more than 50 per cent. Higher fines imposed on other major facilities in the same municipality induce plants to reduce the annual release of toxic pollutants by 0.1 per cent. Finally, inspections and fines increase the likelihood of reporting toxics releases.

We examine how the composition of residential energy consumption and its sensitivity with respect to income changes. The paper characterizes the energy transition, analyzing the behavior of income elasticity of energy demand along the economic development stages by fuel types. The results indicate a nonlinear relationship between income and domestic energy consumption that can be explained by two factors. First, along the income distribution, consumption of modern fuels increases, replacing traditional and transitional fuels until modern fuels drive all of the growth in domestic energy demand. Second, at the highest income levels, income elasticity starts to decrease, leading to concavity in energy consumption. That is, the income elasticity of residential energy demand follows an inverse U-shape along the world income distribution. This finding suggests that at high income levels, residential energy consumption shows satiation and net energy-saving effects.

In the context of climate change and increasing occurrences of extreme events, it is essential to understand farmers' responses to weather shocks and adaptations. This paper uses a panel dataset of 311 selected Indian districts ranging from 1966 to 2009 to investigate how application of chemical fertilizers varies in response to rainfall shocks. Two rainfall shock measures are constructed based on deviation in rainfall from the normal, a categorical measure of rainfall shock; and another, a continuous index of negative rainfall deviation. Based on a panel fixed effect regression, the study finds no apparent reduction in the level of fertilizer use in negative rainfall shock years. However, with a one-year lagged rainfall shock, a reduction in fertilizer application rate is observed for the continuous drought index. Further, exposure to higher intensity droughts in the previous year leads to an increase in the amount of fertilizer application in the current year.

Schistosomiasis is caused by a vector-borne parasite, commonly found in low- and middle-income countries. People become infected by direct contact with contaminated water through activities such as collecting water, bathing and fishing. Water becomes contaminated when human waste is not adequately contained. We administered a discrete choice experiment to understand community preferences for interventions that would reduce individuals' risk of contracting, or transmitting, Schistosoma mansoni. These focused on water access, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions. We compared interventions that target behaviours that mainly put oneself at higher risk versus behaviours that mainly put others at risk. We used two payment vehicles to quantify what individuals are willing to give up in time and/or labour for interventions to be implemented. Key findings indicate that new sources of potable water and fines on open defecation are the highest valued interventions.